Sustainable Health Review to position WA health system for the future

Panel to be chaired by independent expert; final report due by March 2018

Expressions of interest for reference groups opened; wide consultation with consumers and carers, front-line staff, health leaders and others to be announced

A panel has been established to conduct the McGowan Government's Sustainable Health Review that will deliver a patient first, innovative and sustainable health system for all Western Australians.

The review will rein in the legacy of expenditure growth left by the Barnett Liberal National Government which saw the health budget almost triple to $9 billion over a decade, accounting for more than half of every new dollar spent between 2013-14 and 2016-17.

The Sustainable Health Review Panel will be chaired by independent expert Robyn Kruk AM, who has more than 30 years' experience in public sector service reform at the State and Commonwealth level, including as Director General of NSW Health, and inaugural CEO of the National Mental Health Commission.

Other members of the panel include the Director General of the Department of Health, the Under Treasurer, an employee nominee, and a nominee of the Minister for Health.

The panel will also be responsible for ensuring alignment to the Government's Service Priority Review and Commission of Inquiry into Government Programs and Projects, and will provide its final report by March 2018.

Consumer and clinical nominees will also be appointed following an expressions of interest process, opened today, and wide consultation will be announced for the second half of the year, including public submissions.

Comments attributed to Health Minister Roger Cook:

"The previous Liberal National Government mismanaged our State Budget and oversaw health expenditure grow to an unsustainable 30 per cent of the entire State spend, and we now have to rein that in.

"We have an excellent health system in WA but we must address significant financial pressures, along with a growing and ageing population, increasing chronic disease, and health inequity, on top of an unsustainable budget position left to us by the previous government.

"This does not mean cuts to the health budget, but that the future growth trajectory of the health budget is sustainable.

"In 2004, WA Labor laid the foundation for a revitalised health system with the comprehensive Reid Review that delivered Fiona Stanley Hospital and significant infrastructure across our State.

"We now need to look beyond bricks and mortar to put the patient at the centre of fresh thinking towards sustainable delivery of health services in WA, with a focus on value and efficiency to maintain and improve high-quality services and good health outcomes for the WA community.

"Health is operating in an era of significant change as a result of advances in technology and research. We have a unique opportunity to partner across sectors to take advantage of these developments and deliver care in the most appropriate setting - not just hospitals.

"The State Government will use the review to inform future decisions about the way that health is managed and delivered to ensure that Western Australians are receiving quality healthcare that can be sustained for our future generations.

"Public hospital services in WA cost 20 per cent more to deliver than the national average and this growth is unsustainable, especially in a constrained budgetary environment with record State debt.

"The review will be critical in promoting budget repair, and meeting increasing demand, by driving value and innovation, and partnering across sectors more effectively."